Earlier this month, The Christian Science Monitor ran a comparison of four types of fuel (with forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to heat homes in the Northeast, the only region in the country to use all four heat sources:

• Electricity (on the rise; about one-third of U.S. homes use it for primary heat);
 

• Heating oil (prices are tied to world events; 6% of U.S. homes use it for primary heat, mostly in the Northeast);


• Natural gas (huge supply forecast; nearly half of U.S. homes use for primary heat); and


• Propane (a relatively clean fuel but losing popularity; cost varies a lot by region).

Click here for the results.